Alarming rise in ATM
frauds in Dhubri

Dhubri, Jan. 24: Incidents of fraudulent withdrawal of money from ATMs are on the rise inDhubri withas many as 25 FIRs against such cases filed recently in Dhubri police station.

Monowar Ali, 22, of Chirakhowa village under Fakirganj police station was arrested a couple days ago when he was fleeing after withdrawing Rs 47,000 from an ATM counter using his relative’s ATM card.

The investigating officer of Dhubri police station, town sub-inspector Jayanta Das told The Telegraph that he started investigating the case on the basis of the complaint lodged by Ali’s relative, Abul Kalam Azad.

“When the closed-circuit camera footage was examined, the person making the fraudulent withdrawal was identified and, accordingly, we arrested him,” Das said.

Another victim, Toser Uddin, a government employee from Hatsinghimari village under South Salmara police station, has alleged that Rs 57,704 was fraudulently withdrawn from his account through an ATM in Bangalore in December.

“It was detected when I went to withdraw money through the ATM at Hatsinghimari and discovered that my balance was only 0.14 paisa. I lodged a complaint at Dhubri police station and also with the Dhubri SBI main branch,” Toser added.

SBI’s chief general manager in Dhubri, Sekhar Paul Choudhury, said all matters related to fraudulent withdrawals, including the Toser Uddin case, were being investigated and customers were instructed to follow some guidelines to avoid fake withdrawals.

“In our ATMs, fraudulent withdrawals have come down and we are taking all precautionary measures, including creating awareness among the customers through various ways,” Choudhury added.

The officer-in-charge of Dhubri police station (sadar), Manik Kalita, said: “Of the 25 cases, we have already solved four cases and nearly Rs 1 lakh have been recovered from the accused. Some cases are being investigated in consultation with the CID, as they are cyber crimes,” Kalita added.